According to
Smart Bitches, Toronto-based
Harlequin is offering book authors who agreed to be published in e-book format a lousy six percent in royalties. Harlequin is one of the biggest publishers of series romance and women's fiction and has recently
announced the launch of its e-book program in partnership with Lightning Source, eReader.com and OverDrive.
Quote:
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A little bird told me that Harlequin is now offering 6% royalties on e-Books. Apparently, this is non-negotiable. The typical royalty rate for other e-publishers? 30-50%. Now, I’m wondering: why the discrepancy? Also: is the royalty rate for books that are offered both in paper and e-book format, or is it the rate for books that are going to be offered primarily as e-books, a la Ellora’s Cave? If the former, 6% would be pretty typical for paperback books, but if the latter--well, that’s pretty Scrooge-a-riffic.
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In other words, Harlequin and other publishers don't want to sell e-books at reduced rates, all the while they keep the addititional revenues for producing at considerably lower costs to themselves. Why doesn't it surprise me that e-books fail to take off?
[via
Tobias S. Buckell]